We explain who Robert Boyle was, his contributions to chemistry and theological studies. Also, what are its characteristics and studies.
Who was Robert Boyle?
Robert Boyle was an Irish philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventoralso dedicated to Christian theology, and known particularly for the formulation of the law that bears his name: Boyle’s Law (or Boyle-Mariotte), which links the volume and pressure of a gas subjected to a constant temperature.
Robert Boyle He is considered the first modern chemist.one of the founders of this discipline. In this sense, he is one of those responsible for making knowledge that was long considered (with suspicion) as alchemical or magical, comprehensible in scientific terms.
See also: Antoine Lavoisier
Birth of Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle Born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1627. He was the fourteenth son of an English nobleman named Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, and his mother was Catherine Fenton, his father’s second wife.
Boyle was born in Lismore Castle, on the banks of the Blackwater River, within a wealthy family. He received an education worthy of his talents: at an early age he learned Latin, Greek and French, and at only eight years old he entered Eton School.
Biography of Robert Boyle
Boyle’s sheltered youth allowed him to receive an elite education, with French tutors and stays in Genoa and Florence, where he studied the work of Galileo Galilei. After the death of his father, he inherited various properties.
Thanks to his fortune, Boyle was able to devote himself to science.. He became part of the “Invisible College”, precursor of the British Royal Society, in which numerous thinkers met at Gresham College in London, or at Oxford.
Starting in 1663, this group became the Royal Society of London for the Advancement of Natural Science, of which he was elected president in 1680, an honor that he preferred to decline. During this period many of his most important studies, inventions and studies emerged.
From 1689, weakened by age and increasing paralysis, He preferred to seclude himself and flee from public contactto dedicate himself to theological study until the day of his death.
Robert Boyle’s contributions to chemistry
To keep your hypotheses free of suggestion, He said not to follow teachers and avoid studying the atomic model of the time and the Cartesian system. However, Boyle’s great contribution to chemistry comes from his experimental verification of the principles of Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum Scientiarum (1620).
It can be said that Boyle he was a modern alchemistConvinced that he could transmute metals, an old dream of antiquity, he carried out experiments trying to obtain gold, just like the Arab alchemists.
However, moved towards a much more modern vision of the elements, as well as chemical and physical processes. He understood the difference between mixtures and compounds, and defended chemical study as an end in itself, instead of a practice of techniques later applicable to other fields of knowledge.
His studies focused on the nature of gases, of which he analyzed combustion and respiration. He discovered the role of oxygen in both cases even though, as he wrote, his sensitive nature prevented him from performing vivisections to appreciate how oxygen entered the body.
Boyle’s law
One of Boyle’s great contributions is not to chemistry, but to physics: Boyle’s Law. This law was formulated by both Boyle and the French botanist Edme Mariotte independently in 1662 and 1676 respectively.
It is one of the laws that determine the behavior of gases. It states that if the temperature remains constant, the volume and pressure of a certain amount of gas have an inversely proportional relationship.
Or what is the same: If the volume of the gas increases, the pressure decreases; if the pressure increases, the volume decreases (this is if the temperature is always the same). Mathematically, this principle is expressed as follows:
Being Q and V the pressure and volume of the gas, while k It is a constant.
The above relationship can also be represented as:
Where P1 and V1 are the pressure and initial volume of the gas. While P2 and V2 are the final pressure and volume.
Theological studies of Robert Boyle
Aside from his scientific interests, towards the end of his life Boyle He became interested in theology and Christian affairs.His approach to the matter was one of non-controversy and pragmatism. He was certain that, as a lay scholar, his conclusions would have much more weight than those of a member of a religious order.
From these interests remain his lectures, in which He defended the Christian religion, while condemning atheism. and the unbelievers. In addition, he also left some funds available to be read annually.
Works by Robert Boyle
Boyle wrote numerous scientific works, including:
- New physical-mechanical experiments on the elasticity of air and its effects (1660)
- The skeptical chemist (1661)
- The hydrostatic paradox (1666)
- Origin and virtues of gems (1672)
- New experiments and observations on Noctiluca Icy (1682)
Also notable among his theological works are:
- A refutation of atheism (1692)
- The virtuous Christian (1690)
Other contributions from Robert Boyle
Boyle He was a founding member of the Royal Society, a scientific organization that later had great importance. Additionally, he headed the East India Company, in which he invested enormous sums of money to promote the gospel in the world. He translated the Bible into different languages and contributed especially to religious missions abroad.
Death of Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle died in London on December 31, 1691in the house he had shared with his sister for twenty years (who had died a week earlier). The cause of death was paralysis. His remains were buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, with a funeral oration by his friend, Bishop Gilbert Burnet.
Robert Boyle Acknowledgements
- He was a founding member of the Royal Society, and was elected its president in 1680.
- His name was given to the prize for analytical sciences awarded by the Royal Society of Chemistry, to a lunar crater and to an asteroid in the solar system (11967).
- The Boyle-Mariotte law honors him along with Edme Mariotte, both independently discovering the same thing.
Robert Boyle Quotes
- “He who said that it was not good for man to be alone placed celibacy among the lower states of perfection.”
- “One can never sufficiently prepare for death.”
- “If the omniscient author of nature knew that the study of his works tends to make men disbelieve in his being or attributes, he would not have given them so many invitations to study and contemplate nature.”
Continue with: René Descartes